1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to educational devices and to article and surface demonstration devices concerned with toiletries, and in particular to a personalized hairstyle display and selection system enabling an individual to insert his or her own picture beneath any of a number of pictures of hairstyles to compare a variety of hairstyles as they would look on the individual.
2. Background Art
Selecting a hairstyle is a personal and very important grooming decision. A hairstyle which looks attractive on one individual may look horrible on another. Therefore the practice of having customers select hairstyles based upon looking at others or pictures of others having a particular hairstyle may turn out to be a disaster because of the individual's facial structure, coloring, features or any of a number of unique physical characteristics. The ideal situation is for the customer actually to be able to picture the hairstyle on him- or her-self before having the hairdresser create the hairstyle on the customer.
Prior art systems for visualizing make-up or hairstyles on indivduals involve very expensive and elaborate equipment including videos and computers to transpose an image of a hairstyle onto an image of a customer. At least one worker is required to operate the elaborate prior art systems, sometimes requiring the worker to have artistic talent in creating the image of the customer with a proposed hairstyle. For each hair-style to be viewed the technically detailed and time-consuming task of electronically transposing one image on the other. To produce each image requires several minutes. And each image costs the customer a substantial sum of money. Usually the number of images is limited because of the time factor involved as well as the expense.
Video imaging systems all have a visual acuity problem because of the nature of the image comprised of a number of dots flashing across the screen. The quality of the image is somewaht blurry at best even with an expert technician. More often the problem is compounded because of nonexpert operators producing very blurry video images and unnatural color, particularly in the flesh tones and hair colors, the two most crucial factors in making a hairstyle selection.
The prior art video hairstyle selection systems are out in public display for all in the beauty parlor to see, and often attracting considerable attention while a customer is making a selection. This public showing of a customer with an unflattering hairstyle is very embarrassing to the customer.
Photographs of the video image of the customer with the proposed hairstyle are usually quite fuzzy due to the imperfect nature of the video image which does not lend itself to photographing.
3. Disclosure of Invention
The present invention overcomes the problems involved with the prior art and produces a more effective and desirable solution to the problem of selecting just the right hairstyle for each individual.
By taking a single instant photograph of the customer and allowing the customer to insert his or her photograph in as many frames as the customer desires, each showing a potential hair-style, a simple, inexpensive system allows an individual to select a hairstyle which will look attractive without incurring considerable expense in the selection process. The cost of buying the necessary equipment is a small fraction of what the video-computer systems cost, thereby saving money for the hairdresser and the customer.
By providing a camera with a scaled facial outline viewing guide within which to view the customer through the camera viewfinder, anyone can operate the camera effectively without requiring any special expertise. Each scaled facial outline viewing guide (formed in the outline of one of at least eight common facial shapes) is mounted interchangeably on the camera viewfinder system to allow for a properly scaled image of a variety of common facial shapes. Once the photograph has been taken, the worker can leave the customer alone to view hairstyles as desired.
By allowing the customer to view the hairstyles alone and in privacy, the customer need not be embarrassed by having anyone else see what the customer looks like with a particular style. The customer may look at as many different possible hairstyles as desired without incurring a cost for each one and without occupying the time of a worker in the beauty salon. In addition, each new hairstyle can be viewed in a matter of seconds simply by inserting the instant photograph into a hairstyle frame, thereby allowing the customer to view a substantial number of possible hairstyles in a very short period of time.
Photographically imaging the hairstyle and the customer produces visually sharp pictures which give a much clearer image with accurate flesh tones and hair colors of how the hairstyle will actually look on the customer. If a photograph is taken of the customer with the hairstyle as imaged in the system, the photograph produces a much sharper and more accurate image than taking a photograph of a video image.
The present system further allows for pictures and descriptions of the proper hair styling products to be displayed on the same sheet with each hairstyle to enhance the likelihood of success and satisfaction with the proper care of the hairstyle. The required hair texture, hair treatment and instructions for creating the hairstyle (for the hairdresser) may be printed on the sheet also.
Additional information may be displayed on the same sheet including the history of the hairstyle and the creator of the style. Famous individuals sporting the same style may be added for additional interest.
Tinted transparent overlays may be used with the system for considering various colors or tints of hair in addition to those shown on the hairstyle frames.
The entire viewing system with a wide variety of hairstyles may be combined in a single volume (or different volumes as desired) and stored easily. Easy handling by the customer is also an advantage over bulky and heavy video and compauter equipment requiring special care, handling and storage.
By using a ringed binder or other removable-page systems viewing sheets may be removed and replaced as new hairstyles come in to replace old ones.